Beauty and the Beast
by Gemma.Maze
Summary: When a group of Saiyans abduct Dr. Briefs, Bulma exchanges her freedom for her fathers. Little did she know her decision not only had the power to save the good doctor, but to also end a twenty-year war and stomp out the Saiyan Prince's deadly curse.
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER** – I do not own Dragonball/Z/GT or any of its characters. I also have no association with Disney or any of its characters either.

**WARNING** – I'm not too familiar with the rating system on , so I've rated this MA to err on the side of caution. There will probably be lots of blood and violence and maybe even an adult scene or two.

Also, I'm new here so I have no Beta for this fic. That being said, updates may be kind of slow for editing purposes.

**BEAUTY AND THE BEAST**

by Gemma

**CHAPTER ONE**

_My secret side I keep hid under lock and key_

_I keep it caged, but I can't control it_

_'Cause if I let him out he'll tear me up, break me down_

_Why won't somebody come and save me from this, make it end?_

_I feel it deep within, it's just beneath the skin_

_I must confess that I feel like a monster_

_I hate what I've become, the nightmare's just begun_

_I must confess that I feel like a monster_

_-MONSTER by Skillet  
_

Once upon a time, in a palace on a planet far, far away, there lived a hag named Baba. Baba was employed by the royal family, each member of which was as cold hearted as they were beautiful.

The King valued strength in his people above all else while the queen valued cunning. Between them, they bore a son named Vegeta who was both of these things. But in addition to his physical and mental strengths, he was very handsome and also very cruel. Far more bad tempered than his father and exceedingly more arrogant than his mother.

The king and queen saw him as the perfect warrior, something that the Saiyans considered to be of the utmost importance. They knew that Vegeta would one day rule with a firm hand and they couldn't be more pleased about it.

Though the prince was always very mean to Baba, she made allowances for him. She knew that his attitude was a direct result of how he was raised and hoped that one day the young Saiyan would balance himself out. She felt that love and kindness could easily find a place in his heart if he allowed it. But as the years flew by, that hope became dimmer and dimmer.

By Vegeta's tenth birthday, the mere sight of him struck fear in even the Saiyan Elite. But Baba pitied him. She still felt that his cruel nature was of his parents making and hoped desperately that Vegeta would one day grow to be a just leader.

That same year, Baba received an alarming omen from her crystal ball. She approached the king and begged him to allow her to visit her brother. He lived on a faraway planet called Earth and had fallen very ill. "I can save him," she explained. "The elixir is already prepared, but it must be administered very cautiously. If consumed too quickly, it will guarantee a certain death."

"Absolutely not!" The king roared, outraged that the hag would dare come to him with such a request.

"You efforts would be wasted anyway," the queen said, her voice icier than the coldest of glaciers. "A pod has already been assigned to that planet and is set to leave first thing in the morning. Whether it be from sickness or by a Saiyan hand, your brother will die either way."

Enraged by their callousness, Baba snuck into the hangar and searched for the pod headed for Earth. It was small, meant to carry a child. She slipped the elixir in the swaddling blankets and prayed that it would find its way to her brother. She also wrote a note explaining the child's purpose and warned for whoever should find the boy to destroy him right away.

But her temper was not appeased.

While heading back to her chambers, she plucked the most beautiful rose from the queen's garden and considered the best way to punish the king and queen. She thought about casting a plague upon them both, but that seemed too simple. She wanted something that would stick with them for a long time, something that would cause them great suffering. And so it was that she began to ponder what the king and queen valued above all else.

"Prince Vegeta!" A passing maid exclaimed, holding a bundle of bloodied clothing to her chest. "He'll not be pleased until he's killed every fourth class Saiyan in the palace! Says they have no right being here and that they dishonor the whole race."

"You mean he's done in another one?" another maid asked. She looked worried, and rightfully so. All fourth class Saiyans were either sent off planet, deemed to lowly to mingle their bad blood with the populous, or sent to work as a servant in the palace. Chances were that both of the young maids were fourth classes.

"Oh yes! All that was left of this one were these bloodied clothes."

Ten years old and already murderous? It was with a heavy heart that Baba realized the prince would never change. As a matter of fact, she thought, that arrogant rascal could do with a strong dose of punishment himself.

"It's fitting," she muttered. "There's nothing in the universe that the king and queen value higher than the life of their son."

She twirled the rose between her thumb and forefinger, thinking up the best possible way to punish the ruthless prince. Something that he could not easily overcome. After all, every proper witch knows that for every curse there is a counter curse. She had to make sure the cure was something that the prince would never stumble across by chance… and she had just the thing in mind.

The next day Vegeta awoke to find the rose placed atop one of his pillows. Beneath it laid a single sheet a folded parchment. He tossed the rose to the ground and read the note beneath.

"_One touch of this enchanted rose_

_Brings the best of luck to all Saiyan foes. _

_If the prince should lay upon it just one finger_

_A terrible curse shall spread and linger. _

_By night a man, by day a beast_

_On your very humanity this curse shall feast. _

_From this monster you can never hide_

_For one cannot run from what dwells inside._

_But like all things there is a way,_

_To fight this curse and keep the beast at bay. _

_Learn to love and be loved in return_

_Before the final petal of this rose wilts and burns._

_Only then will your people survive._

_Only then will the Saiyan race live and thrive." _

Initially, Vegeta scoffed and crumpled the paper in his hands, but even as he watched, the bones in his arms and legs snapped and grew. They elongated in grotesque shapes and jutted out at odd angles. Thick hair began to sprout out of his pores and his now massive canines were so sharp that his lips bled at the slightest contact with them.

For the first time in the prince's life, he experienced pain and fear.

A cold sweat clung to him as he snatched up the rose and ran to find his parents. As was usual for this time of morning, they were found sitting in the dining hall, eating breakfast and watching as the pods were sent off planet. Vegeta ran to them and narrowly dodged all of the ki blasts reigning down upon him. The guards thought he was some sort of monster, come to attack his parents. Even his father stood and took aim at his monster-son.

But the beast moved fast, and Vegeta was easily able to pin his father to the ground. A startling hunger ripped through him and it took every ounce of strength he possessed to keep himself from tearing his father's throat out. He wanted to destroy. He wanted to maim. He wanted… to be wild.

He shoved the paper into his father's hands and flipped backwards, landing on all fours twenty yards away.

The king blinked, dumbfounded, and allowed his eyes to scan the letter, then, realizing that this monster was no monster at all, he shouted himself hoarse for Baba.

She floated down the curving staircase, sitting atop her favorite crystal ball and wearing a toothless grin. The king thrust the paper in her tiny hands and demanded an explanation.

But before the hag could answer, a flash of light erupted from outside the dining hall and pierced her heart. In her stunned stupor, she had just enough life left in her to turn and watch a creature like she'd never seen before enter the hall. It was white and purple and held a remarkable resemblance to a lizard. Waves of strength and hatred rolled off of him as he approached the King and verses from her curse filled her head: _Best of luck to Saiyan foes… Learn to love and be loved in return… Only then will the Saiyan race live and thrive_.

It felt as if Vegeta had been doused with iced water. Baba couldn't die! If she died then he would be stuck with this curse! For in their travels the Saiyans had yet to come across another witch with even a fraction of Baba's powers.

He ran to her side as she slipped off of her crystal ball and sank to the floor. Blood pooled out around her body, and Vegeta's long talons slipped and skidded in the warm liquid. He was horrified when he noticed how appealing the blood smelled to him now.

Baba seemed not to worry though. Her eyes were locked, transfixed upon her crystal ball, which had rolled only a few feet away. She gave a weak cackle and grabbed a tuft of Vegeta's fur to pull him closer.

"One last prophecy for the young prince," she panted. "The Saiyans will face a time of hardship… slavery. The tyrant Frieza will bring your empire to its knees…. He will… force you to work for him…." A thin sheen of sweat puckered on her brow. Her words became more and more slurred and her breathing became labored. "You _can_ defeat him, sire… you can… but not now… not now. First you must… find… the one who… calls him… self… Goku." Her wrinkled lips twitched, almost like a smile, and she added, "And.. Bu… Bu…"

But before she could finish, her eyes slid out of focus, the remaining air in her lungs spilled out of her, and she died.

"Oh my," the tyrant, Frieza, said as he approached. His voice was a smooth as silk, but his words held a note of a threat behind them. "I don't know what more hideous, the hag or the beast."

**Author's Notes**-There you have it, Chapter One. I wanted to get this portion of the story down and out of the way. It's more of a prologue than a chapter, really. For anyone out there asking, "Umm... where is Bulma?" Don't worry, she's coming up!


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO**

_Twenty years later…_

The enchanted rose flashed and another petal drifted away.

Vegeta stirred and opened his eyes just in time to watch the petal burn.

In the past, he panicked with each fallen petal. He longed to find an end to the curse. Every day he became the beast and every day he lost another small portion of himself. Now it was to the point that he had to be chained in a steel plated room for the protection of others as well as for the protection of himself. So uncontrollable was the beast that even his family and men could not calm him. When he was younger, he could keep the beast tamed but it took all of his energy. He'd wake that night physically and mentally exhausted. Most times, he would sleep the whole night away only to reawaken as the beast. He'd go weeks on end without a single human moment.

Over the years the beast had grown stronger and now it took him over completely. He would wake every night, still exhausted, still scratched and bruised, but with no recollection of the day's events. He'd been told stories, horrible stories, about how as the beast he rampaged the castle, killed young, promising Saiyans, and even tried to attack his own mother.

He shook his head, trying to chase the memories away. The chains clanked together bumping along the fresh scrapes on his wrists and ankles. The beast must have spent half the day trying to break those chains.

"Raditz." He cringed at the sound of his voice. Like always, it was hoarse and raspy, something he attributed to spending his days roaring as the beast. There was a time when his voice had been smooth, but those days were nearly forgotten.

The door to his left beeped and slid open. His third in command, Raditz, stood in the entryway holding a fresh set of Saiyan armor and a ring of thick, brass keys. "Good evening, sire," he said, ducking into the room. He handed the armor to Vegeta and busied himself by unlocking the cuffs around the prince's wrists and ankles. Before, he would offer to coat his scars with a healing salve, but the prince always declined, and Raditz got the distinct impression that his constant offering annoyed Vegeta, so he stopped asking all together.

Vegeta tugged the blue top over his head and jammed his legs into the pants. Saiyan armor was very flexible. It could stretch to fit virtually any shape and size, but the beast had a habit of shredding the material and Vegeta tired of having to order replacements. "Where are we?"

"We're passing the Milky Way galaxy now, sir. We'll be approaching Andromeda within the next couple of hours."

The Andromeda galaxy housed a startlingly small number of inhabitable planets, but each planet was worth its weight in gold. The strongest types of stone and metal in the entire universe could be found within Andromeda, and that was something that Frieza found very interesting. If he could gain control over those precious resources, there wouldn't be a creature alive who could challenge his power. Naturally, a mission of such importance demanded the attention of Frieza's most efficient warriors, so he sent Vegeta and his guards.

"It kills me," he growled. "Kills me that we're stuck having play the role of Frieza's dogs. I'd like to wrap my hands around his scrawny little neck!" He wrung his hands around the imaginary Frieza.

"I know," Raditz agreed, eying the prince's shaking hands with caution. "But the resistance is still strong. Nappa received a transmission no more than an hour ago. Two new planets have been found in the southern hemisphere. They both contain intelligent life forms. Scouts have been dispatched to see if there is a Goku among them."

Ever since Frieza's takeover the Saiyans had been secretly searching for the Goku of Baba's prophecy. None searched harder than Vegeta though.

Frieza was highly amused by Vegeta's misfortune and even went as far as to use it as a weapon against him. He was no fool. He knew of the resistance and he knew of Vegeta's role in it. Any Saiyan suspected of being part of the resistance was shoved in a small room with Vegeta while he was the beast. Lost in rage and madness, Vegeta would end up doing Frieza's dirty work for him and unconsciously kill his own followers.

"Hey!" Nappa's gravelly voice shouted through their scouters. "We got problems! I could use a hand down here!"

The ship banked hard right, so that Vegeta and Raditz lost their balance and had to literally walk on the walls.

"What the hell is he doing?" Vegeta barked.

They flew down from the West Wing, hurtled themselves through the pristine corridors of the ship and had just barely touched down in the command deck before the ship absorbed an impact and quaked so fiercely that they all feared the walls would crumble around them. The red alarm lights sprang to life accompanied by an earsplitting siren.

"Warning, Warning. Hull damage has been detected. Warning, Warning. Hull damage has been detected," the robotic, detached voice of the computer announced.

"No shit!" Vegeta barked, slapping the acknowledge button on the control panel.

But no sooner had that warning been silenced did another one go off. "Warning, Warning. Engine failure has been detected. Warning, Warning. Engine failure has been detected. Emergency landing is recommended."

"There's an inhabitable planet on the outskirts of the Milky Way," Raditz said, punching the keys at one of the panels. A 3D projection of a foreign solar system materialized in front of him and zoomed in to display the third planet from the star. Writing and charts rotated around it, detailing the planets specs. Raditz scanned the charts and said, "The planet is called Earth. It's small with low gravity, but there air is breathable, there's both land and water, and there's even a moon."

Vegeta's eyes darted to the window. Perhaps they could make it to the Andromeda Galaxy? But one look told him otherwise. There, in the vastness of space, was a storm brewing. Meteors and lightening swirled all around them. The power on their ship flickered, threatening to go out completely. If they lost power, they'd be doomed to drift into space until either the issue was fixed or they all died. Seeing as Raditz was the closest thing to a scientist they had on board (and that was only because his father, Bardock, was a _real_ scientist) Vegeta didn't like the odds.

Nappa gritted his teeth and held on tight to the steering wheel. The muscles in his arms bunched and twitched each time a meteor came close and whenever lightning struck near the ship. "Your orders, sir?" he asked with a touch of impatience leaking through his voice.

"Veer right," Vegeta said. "We're going to Earth."

##

"Bulma! I wasn't expecting to see you for at least another week or two."

Bulma offered a sheepish grin to Mr. Canady, the owner and manager of Canady's Hardware—a place that Bulma considered to be a Heaven on Earth. "I ran out of three-band capacitors. Can you believe that?"

"Three-band?" Mr. Canady repeated. "But I've just sent off a request for more. Capsule Corp submitted an order for sixty cases. Surely you must know that?"

"Yeah I know. But I thought you'd have one or two lingering around the store somewhere."

She was right, of course. Tucked into the farthest corner of the store were three packs that someone had decided not to buy. She scooped them up and was just checking out the latest line of socket wrenches when the ground beneath her began to tremble. Hammers, nails, boards and even power tools were flung from the shelves.

Mr. Canady hit the ground and covered his head with his beefy, tattooed forearms. "Get down, Bulma! It's an earthquake!"

But Bulma wasn't listening. She groped on to one of the display cases to keep her balance and started awestruck out of the storefront window. The sky, which had only moments ago been clear and littered with stars, was now clouded over. Bright flashes of red and yellows erupted from behind the clouds and the sound of a long, continuous crack of thunder deafened her. But that wasn't the worst part…

Something was cutting through the Earth's atmosphere, something longer than it was tall that had a disk-like shape to it…. Something big.

"Aliens!" Mr. Canady yelped, his normally gruff voice transformed into a high soprano and he scrambled under the checkout counter.

Once it broke through the clouds, the craft tore through the sky like a metallic boomerang, two trails of smoke and exhaust streaked after it.

"It's gonna crash!" Bulma darted outside just as the side of the spaceship clipped the peak of one of the surrounding mountains and then crashed into the neighboring mountains completely.

People flooded the streets, looking out at the crash site and gawking at the bright trials of light that the craft had strewn across the night sky. Some grabbed their cameras and started snapping pictures, others took off towards the mountains, hoping to get exclusive footage. More still scooped up their loved ones and ran in the opposite direction, screaming things like, "It's the end of the world!" and "We're being invaded!"

_Now there's a thought_, Bulma thought, chewing on her bottom lip as she considered the likelihood. What if they were being invaded? If that was the case, then those aliens had some seriously bad luck. Not only did they blotch the landing, but they crashed in the mountains… where Goku lived.

##

"Well this is just perfect," Vegeta seethed and put a boot through the left side vertical thruster. "Not only do we have hull damage and engine failure, but our satellite has shorted out so we can't even call for help!"

The thought of not having to hear Frieza's constant drone had him elated. He couldn't stand the little prick. The problem was that if they stayed out of communication for too long, the tyrant would think they'd gone rogue and start taking out the Saiyans by the handful.

Raditz and Nappa hung their heads. Normally they were very diligent when it came to landing, but with the engines failing and the fact that this planet had a thick layer of atmosphere to punch through, they'd lost control of the ship and had caused more damage than what they'd started with. Not to mention (and neither of them would dare say it out loud) that Vegeta kicking holes in their thrusters didn't help their situation at all.

"S-sire," Raditz began, "Just before we lost power, the analyzer picked up definite traces of intelligent life forms on this planet. Perhaps they're advanced enough to aid in repairs."

"You'd better hope so! Because if we don't get our shit together, and I mean fast, then Frieza's going to take it out on our people's hides! … Well? What are you waiting for!? Get moving! You better have an adequate scientist here before sunrise!"

The duo snapped to attention, gave a mechanical salute and took off into the sky.

For a while, they flew in silence, both still stinging from Vegeta's words. They both knew he was right. It had happened in the past when a crew of Saiyans went missing. Frieza would go berserk and start wiping them all out.

No one knew for sure why he was so adamant about keeping the Saiyans under his thumb, but some were convinced that it had something to do with the legendary Super Saiyan. They thought that the tyrant was actually afraid of them. They thought that he knew he'd never survive if one of them managed to transform. But, as the more logical Saiyans would point out, that was highly unlikely. The last suspected transformation took place over one thousand years ago and, as legend tells is, that Saiyan was only able to maintain his transformation in the Oozaru form. Since a full moon on Planet Vegeta only happened once every eight years, they doubted anyone would be reaching legendary status any time soon.

It was Nappa who spoke first.

"He's right you know. If we don't at least get that satellite up then Frieza will panic and hunt down our families."

Raditz nodded his understanding, but decided not to dwell on the subject. The only family he had left was his father, Bardock, and Frieza would never dare to kill him. There were a very few number of scientist who were as brilliant as his dad. Nappa on the other hand had just been mated to a female warrior named Naomi and the couple was expecting the birth of their first son any day now. The last thing he wanted to do was fret over the consequences when Nappa had so much more to lose than he did.

"Look, down there!" Nappa said, cutting through his thoughts and drawing his attention to a small, oddly shaped dwelling tucked in the mountains. Half of it had a peaked roof, and the other half had a domed roof, then off to the side was another smaller building, also with a peaked roof. They touched down and studied the marking on the door: SON HOUSE.

Despite the fact that they'd never seen these particular markings anywhere else, they had a pretty good idea as to what they meant. Years of planet pirating exposed them to similar markings and they almost always had the same meanings.

"Well," Radtz said and pushed the door open, "they're intelligent enough to have a written language. That's a good sign."

Nappa ducked inside and kept crouched low to keep from hitting his head on the ceiling. Raditz, however, didn't have any trouble walking around at all. As a matter of fact, judging from the height of the chairs and tables, he was certain that the beings that inhabited this planet were close to his size.

"Doesn't look like anyone's home," Nappa said, peering in the rooms off of the hallway. "But on the bright side, these creatures appear to utilize a lot of the same comforts as us: beds, sofa's, kitchens. Can't be too dumb, can they?"

"Hey, look at this," Raditz said, picking up a photo of a dark-haired woman holding a bundle of blankets in her arms. "Can you believe it? They almost look Saiyan, don't they?"

"Yeah," Nappa agreed, a surge of relief pulsing through him. "That's good. At least now we know what we're looking for. There's got to be more of them around here somewhere. Let's go look."

But Raditz was barely listening. His eyes were lingering on the child the woman held in her arms. There was something about him, something in the shape of his face and the way his eyes were set just a touch too far apart and the way his grin cocked up higher on the left than the right—something… familiar.

"Come on!" Nappa insisted. He was already outside, ready to take off and glaring at Raditz impatiently.

Raditz gave himself a small shake and joined his partner outside. But still, that kid's face continuously floated back to the forefront of his thoughts and he found himself wondering where he'd seen it before. It wasn't until he heard the sound of approaching propeller blades that he shoved the face away completely. "Look!" He shouted, and pointed to a hovering craft coming up on their left side.

They frowned at the helicopter. It was bulky and loud and didn't move very fast—outdated technology—but it was a start.

"I'll check it out," Nappa said and, like a flash, appeared in front of the chopper and the very frightened looking camera crew within.

"Oh my God!" one of the men screeched. "It's one of them! One of the aliens! We're rolling right? You're getting this, aren't you?"

The cameraman nodded, but from the violent way his hands shook, Nappa doubted he was catching much of anything at all.

He wrapped his thick fingers around the cameraman's throat and with one, swift tug, yanked him out of the chopper completely. The cameraman shouted out and started flailing his arms and kicking his legs, dropping his camera and whatever footage he'd been able to get in the process.

"Stop your squirming!" Nappa barked. The little man obeyed immediately. "We require the assistance of a scientist. Where can we find one?"

"A- a—s-s-scientist?" he stuttered. "I-I dunno."

"Well you'd better figure it out," Nappa growled, forming a small but deadly ki ball in his palm.

The man eyed the strange light and seemed to somehow know that he didn't want that light coming anywhere near him. He raised his eyes skyward, lost in a thought-prayer hybrid when inspiration struck. "Oh! Oh! I know! Capsule Corp!"

"Capsule Corp?" Nappa pressed, "Explain."

"It's where Dr. Briefs lives," the cameraman said, his feet still wheeling themselves in mid-air, trying futilely to put some distance between himself and the threatening light. "He's a genius. H-he can help you. N-no problem."

Nappa grinned a hungry grin and pulled the terrified man's face within an inch of his own. "Point the way?"

##

**Author's Notes**—All right, here is chapter two. This is when the story really starts to roll. Sorry it took so long to post. I kept looking for the perfect cover image for the story, but I just can't find one that I like! These are the times that I wish I could draw…

If you see any typos, let me know! I tried to get them all, but I have a bad habit of missing them in my own writing.


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER THREE**

Capsule Corp wasn't a small building by any means, but its open layout and domed shape allowed for sound to travel farther than was normal in a regular house. Bulma couldn't count how many times she'd thought her father was in the room with her talking, only to find that he was in another part of the house completely, talking to his pet cat, Scratch.

Still, when her mother's screaming jerked her awake in the early hours of the morning, Bulma could have sworn the woman was right in her ear.

"Mom!?" She tossed the covers aside and scrambled out of bed, then promptly landed on her butt when she slipped on her own sheets. A string of swears bubbled up her throat as she hauled herself back to her feet and wrenched her bedroom door open.

"Bulma!?" A frantic, male voice called out.

In the darkness, the two collided and landed unceremoniously on top of each other, their limbs tangled so tightly together that Bulma could feel every single one of his rippling muscles pressing into her.

"Yamcha?" she gasped, "what are you doing lurking in and around my house?! Do you have any idea what time it is?!"

"Huh? Wait, no I—"

"What did you do? Creep up on my mom and give her a heart attack? You go apologize right now! Why are you even here in the first place? You're not looking for a booty call are you? Because I thought I made it perfectly clear that—"

"Stop your jabbering and just listen to me," Yamcha growled. "I'm trying to tell you that the only reason I'm here is because I sensed some strange power levels coming your way."

"Strange power levels?" Bulma repeated, "Did it ever occur to you that a number of my friends have strange power levels? It's probably just Krillin or Goku."

"Aaaaarrgg!" Another one of her mother's screams cut through the night and Bulma unthinkingly latched onto Yamcha's arm.

"Your mom isn't afraid of Krillin or Goku. Besides, these power levels are… different."

Bulma didn't need to hear any more. Yamcha, like every one of her other close friends, was highly skilled in the martial arts, and sensing power levels came as a second nature to him. Whatever he was sensing had to be bad if her carefree, somewhat dimwitted mother was screaming about it. The woman could be standing in the middle of rush hour traffic and not realize she was in danger.

"Wha—Bulma, wait!" Yamcha hissed. He groped for one of her arms, but she was already barreling he way down the hall. Had the lights been on, he would have easily caught up with her. As it was, Bulma had the advantage by knowing her surroundings like the back of her hand.

"Mom!?" She put all her weight into her parent's bedroom door, but it stood firm, locked from the inside. "MOM!" she screamed, pounding her fist against the thick oak. "Open the door!"

"AAAAARRGGG!" Another scream from inside, this time belonging to her father. "Let me go! Let me go!"

A crash erupted from her left and Yamcha came skidding into view, bits of shrubbery and earth was caught in his hair and smeared on his clothes from knocking over a table full of her mother's plants.

"Blast it!" she ordered, "blast the door open!"

"Bulma wait! We can't just charge in there without a pla—"

"BLAST THE DAMN DOOR, NOW!"

Yamcha was spared, however, when the unmistakable clicking noise of the door unlocking sounded from the other side.

Bunny Briefs stood in the doorway, her silken nightgown had slipped to an almost indecent state and was covered with small, reddish brown specs—blood. But she seemed not to notice. She seemed not to be aware of much of anything at all. Her eyes were bloodshot and looked to be slightly out of focus and her mouth drooped open, a very uncharacteristic look for Bulma's normally annoyingly chipper mother.

"Mom?" Bulma began, hesitantly reaching out to her. When her fingers brushed across her mother's skin she noted how cold Bunny had become. "You're bleeding," she said and straightened her mom's nightgown, hiding the tender flesh from Yamcha's eyes. There was something disturbing about how her mother had failed to fix it sooner.

"Not mine," Bunny whispered, her eyes glossing over as if she'd just been reminded of something terrible. "It's not my blood."

"What?" Yamcha tugged at Bulma's sleeve, but she swatted him away. "Whose is it then?" she asked, her focus completely consumed by her shell-shocked mother."

"Bulma," Yamcha said, tugging at her sleeve once more.

But again she slapped at his hand. "Shut up, Yamcha! Mom, can you tell me what happened?"

"That's what I'm trying to tell you!" Yamcha screeched, tiring of having his hands swatted like an errant child. "Look!"

She tore her gaze away from her mom and glared, irritated, in the direction of Yamcha's pointed finger. There, at the end of her parent's master suite, was a large chunk blown out of the wall. Wind tore through the room like rushing currents and the power flickered all around them. For the life of her she couldn't think of how she could have missed such a dramatic scene. But then, seeing the pallid, scared face of her mother must have blinded her to everything else.

"They took him," Bunny said, her voice cracked at the end and the dam broke. Tears spilled over in great drops, trailing down to her chin and dropping to the hardwood floors with thick, smacking noises. "Oh my God, they took him!"

It was only then that Bulma realized what was missing from the horrific scene before her. "Dad?" she gasped. "Who? Who took him?"

But Bunny was slipping, and fast, into a wave of hysterics. Her silent crying morphed into wails of anger and pain over her loss, her knees began to buckle beneath her and she didn't even have the sense to put her hands down as she slid to the floor.

Bulma, however, didn't have time for any tantrums. She grabbed her mom around the shoulders and gave her a firm shake. "Who took him?! Which way did they go!?"

"They weren't… normal," she sobbed. "They were… strong. Strong like Goku. And they had (hiccup) tails. Remember how Goku had a tail when he was a boy?"

"Just tell me," Bulma said, giving her mom another solid shake. "Which way did they go?"

Bunny shrugged hopelessly. "They moved so fast. I couldn't see which way they were headed. They just came in and said they needed him to fix their ship. He tried to fight them off, but the big one hit him…" she trailed off and looked down at her blood splattered gown. "He hit him so hard and there was so much blood. I thought they might have killed him, but they threw him over their shoulders and took off. Straight into the sky, like wingless demons."

"Ship?" She lurched to her feet. "Ship! The spaceship! It landed in the mountains. Yamcha! Let's go!"

"Huh? But wait," he said, catching Bulma's arm and pulling her to a stop, for she had already began to run back towards her room. "Shouldn't we plan this out?"

"There's no time! What if they get that ship off the ground and leave with my father still in it?" She tried to yank her arm out of his grasp, but Yamcha wasn't relenting.

"But you heard her. She said those guys were as strong as Goku… and there are _two_ of them! Don't you think we should stop by Kame House and get some backup?"

With one, mighty tug, she freed her arm and then shoved Yamcha hard in the chest. "Fine! Do whatever you want! But I'm going after my dad whether you come with me or not!"

And just like that, she was on the run again, off to change out of her nightdress and to grab her capsules.

##

"So you're the scientist?"

Vegeta could hardly believe his eyes. The man that Nappa and Raditz had brought back was like nothing any of them had ever seen before. First of all, he had light lavender, almost white, hair. Second of all, he was old. Much older than they'd grown accustomed to in Saiyan standards. But living the life of a warrior does have its downfalls. He supposed it was easier for an Earthling to reach an old age due to their lack of battles… that or they simply aged faster than the average Saiyan.

Dr. Briefs glared as best he could while sporting a black eye and having a nasty cut dribbling blood into his other eye. "What is the meaning of this?" he demanded. "Why have you brought me here?"

Anger flared in Vegeta's chest, rearing up like a starved monster and longing to pounce on the old doctor. Not only was he annoyed with the old man's attitude, but it was nearly sunrise and he could feel the beast within him stirring. His flesh tingled and his bones began to ache. Any minute now he would undergo the change. After all this time he'd never gotten used to the excruciating pain it caused him.

Nappa, clearly sensing danger, gave the doctor a sharp jab in the back. "You will not address the prince so liberally! Besides, we already told you what we need. You're here to fix the ship!"

"That's preposterous!" Doctor Briefs exclaimed, rubbing the sore spot Nappa has formed on his back. "I don't have the tools or materials to fix this ship, not to mention the schematics."

Vegeta pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to maintain his temper. It would do no good to kill he best chance they had of getting off this mudball before he ever got the opportunity to fix anything. "There's a lab on board with everything you'll need. We just need someone with the understanding and know-how to fix the damn ship. That's where you come in."

"And if I refuse?"

"See that rock over there?" Vegeta asked, nodding towards a three ton boulder that had come loose from the rest of the mountain. He waited for Doctor Briefs to nod before pointing two fingers at the stone and blowing it into nothing more than dust particles.

Doctor Briefs gulped and Vegeta grinned, then added, "Don't worry, doc. I wouldn't kill you right away. Oh no. First I'd start with your family. You do have a family don't you? A man your age? I bet you're mated with children. Hell, you may even have grandchildren." The beast was coming out, farther and farther. He could hear the gravelly tone in his voice and feel his canines extending. He needed to get inside and quick, before he really did obliterate the scientist. "And I'll kill them all. One by one until either you do what I tell you to do, or until there's no one left standing on this joke of a planet!"

By the end of his threat his fingers had morphed into long, razor sharp talons, thicker than his entire thumb.

Raditz took a step forward, prepared to attempt to subdue the prince if necessary, but Vegeta was a step ahead of him and had already turned on his heel and shot up to the west wing.

"H-he's a monster!" Doctor Briefs stuttered.

Nappa cackled and slapped his knee. "You have no idea."

"I'd better go check on him," Raditz said glumly. He hated when Vegeta cut it so close. "We don't want another episode like last time."

"What happened last time?" Doctor Briefs asked.

Last time Vegeta made it to the west wing in time, but didn't manage to get all his limbs shackled before he completely changed. There they were, a bare, three man crew and they had a beast terrorizing the ship, destroying control panels and giving serious tries to breaking away pieces of the hull. Had they not been so close to landing anyway, they would have crashed into Planet Vegeta and probably would have taken out quite a few Saiyans. But this was something that neither Radits nor Nappa would ever tell anyone. Not only did it make them look incompetent, but it also gave their enemies a valuable piece of information about their prince: that he was chained down and vulnerable during the day.

##

Bulma was sure there had been a moment in her life in which she was absolutely head over heels in love with Yamcha. She had even been a little hopeful that the two of them would be able to patch things up one day and move on with their relationship. After all, the only real reason they'd broken up in the first place was because they were both so hard headed. It wasn't like either of them cheated or anything serious like that…

But now? "That ship has sailed!" she growled out loud, knowing perfectly well that there was no one around to hear her. Yamcha had been adamant about going to get some help, leaving Bulma to go into the mountains on her own. Sure, he'd tried to convince her to go with him, but she would never be able to forgive herself if that ship got off the ground.

She was close now though. She could smell fuel, metal and burning electronics. Any moment she'd step out into the clearing and from there… she had no plan. Negotiate? Or maybe come out shooting? She felt herself pale. _Maybe I should have went with Yamcha after all. Fuel leakage and burnt parts are going to take a while to fix. A week easy._

Sweat poured down her face and the muscles in her legs burned from the treacherous mountain trails and she'd only been hiking a couple of hours. She thought she'd be able to handle the terrain. As a matter of fact, she always set the treadmill to uphill climb, hike and marathon for her daily workouts, but the treadmill didn't account for the rocky paths, the undergrowth of plants or the steep and sudden drop offs in the trail. Normally she would have just used her air car and gotten to her destination within five, sweat-free minutes, but her mother said these creatures could fly. That meant the sky was dangerous.

CRUNCH

She yelped and danced off the path, diving headlong into a bush that turned out to be full of thorns. The noise had been so loud that she could swear that someone was coming through the brush, but it was something else completely, something she should have thought about sooner.

"A propeller?" she said and crawled out from her hiding spot. Sure enough, the ground was littered with blown up helicopter parts and the crunch she'd heard had come from her own boot stepping on the wreckage. She thought back to her mom's room and the destruction these creatures had caused at Capsule Corp. They could probably blow up choppers without so much as breaking a sweat. Like Goku if he chose to do it. It was probably as simple as a point of a finger. "Well, this certainly explains the lack of headlines about these guys. Hundreds of people must have seen them crash and there hasn't been a single report."

All the more reason for her to trudge on. There was no telling what they were doing to her father.

##

"Will you quit being such a child!" Nappa growled, crouching low into his attack stance.

He couldn't believe it. Raditz was a grown man, he'd wiped out civilizations and blown up planets. He was supposed to be a hardened Saiyan warrior! And yet here he was… running for dear life from a little needle.

"Get away from me!" he yelped and hurled a bottle of a peroxide-like substance at Nappa. "You're not sticking me with that! Why are you resorting to rudimentary techniques? Why can't I just hop in the rejuvenation tank!?"

Nappa lunged and straddled himself across Raditz's chest. "Because!" he grunted and pushed Raditz's spiky head into the tile, "the tank is out of order, just like the rest of the ship! Now shut up and take it like a man!"

The needle gleamed in the florescent lights overhead and Raditz began to kick his legs and buck his hips, anything that stood the chance of flinging Nappa off of him. But the other Saiyan was giant and he was digging in hard. He wasn't going to be thrown off so easily.

"Please! NOOOOOO!"

"Will you stop your blubbering! Look! I'm already done!"

Raditz stopped screaming at once and glanced down at his mangled arm. He could see the torn flesh sizzling and growing back together, then frowned up at Nappa as he wrapped an ace bandage around the wounds. "Damn curse. I knew I was going to have to go up there and check the chains. He barely had time to get one wrist secured. Grabbed me as soon as I walked in."

"Yeah. It'd be great if we didn't have to put up with the beast every day. Baba really did a number on Vegeta. If she were here now, I'd kill her all over again."

"Pfth, it's not all her fault. Vegeta needs to shoulder some of the blame here too! If he weren't so damn stubborn and picky…" he trailed off, thinking of all the women who'd been sent to the prince over the years. Vegeta hadn't shown an ounce of interest in the majority of them, and the ones that he did favor were too petrified of the beast to ever entertain the idea of taking the relationship any farther.

"Love," Nappa scoffed, tying a knot into the bandage. "Baba picked a hell of a loophole."

"Yeah, well, unless something happens soon, that loophole will be null and void. He's only got two petals left."

"Two? How much time does that give him?"

Raditz shook his head. "About a year. Maybe a little less."

They hung their heads. As annoying and inconvenient this curse was for them, they were merely the guards. It was Vegeta who had to deal with the pain and terror of transforming every single day. Vegeta who had to worry about losing himself to the beast. What would happen when the last petal fell? Would he be the beast forever? Would he stop being a man? No one knew. Frieza had killed Baba before anyone could get the details hammered out.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

The display on their scouters sprang to life.

"Power level of seven," Raditz said, tapping the acknowledge button by his ear. "Looks like more target practice has come waltzing in."

##

"Finally!" Bulma gasped, pushing aside a stray branch and forcing her way into the clearing. Physical activity wasn't her strong point. She was much better off in a lab or in a high luxury hotel room. Spending the whole morning trekking through the woods was eerily reminiscent of her younger days when she and the rest of the gang spent entire summers hunting down dragon balls. She didn't like it then and she sure as shit didn't like it now.

Up close, the ship was quite a sight. Far more impressive than anything they had produced at Capsule Corp. Whereas their ships were small and round and could just barely reach the edge of the solar system, this ship was oval shaped, and large—the size of a two or three houses—and Bulma had no doubt in her mind that it's reach was endless.

The scientist in her longed to be let out. She was overcome by the sudden desperate desire to dive in and begin reverse engineering. She wanted to know everything! What was its power core, what type of fuel did it use, what speeds was it capable of?

Unable to resist, she ran her hand along one of the smooth curves and marveled at the ships texture. It was solid, obviously, but it also had a bit of give to it—like hard plastic, yet it was clearly some sort of metal. Mercury maybe?

"Well, well, well," A deep voice said from behind her.

Her back stiffened and she mentally kicked herself. Her excitement in seeing the ship threw caution out the window and her stealth evaporated completely! There she was, out in the open for everyone to see, drooling over alien technology.

Slowly, she turned and stared up at two of the biggest men she'd ever seen… and just like her mother said, they both had tails.

##

Raditz cocked his head to the side and glared at the woman in front of him. She was small next to Saiyan women, but compared to all the Earthlings he'd seen, she seemed to be about average. Her waist was slender and V shaped for the most part, but then took a sharp turn with her flare of hips and her skin was pale. Not pale from fear, as he'd seen so many times in the past, but a natural pale that made her eyes appear to burn like blue flames.

All of this, however, was nothing when he looked at the whole picture. Clearly the most remarkable thing about this woman was her hair. It was a strange blue-green hybrid. He'd never seen that color hair on anyone before. Cut to reach just below her chin and longer in the front than in the back. It was quite the abnormality.

He smirked and considered the most entertaining way to be rid of the little wench. "Now just what are we going to do with yo—"

"Oh spare me the scare tactics," Bulma said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "You have my father. I've come to get him back."

The two Saiyans gawked in disbelief. She'd just cut them off. She waved away his words as if they were nothing more than bothersome flies.

Nappa glowered and tried again. "Now see here, little girl…"

"No! I came for my dad and I'm not leaving here without him. So you can just scurry onto your little ship and bring him out."

"Jeez," Raditz whispered. "She's as stubborn as Prince Vegeta."

"She must be used to getting her way," Nappa agreed. "What do you say we have a little fun?"

Raditz smirked and both he and Nappa pointed their fingers straight ahead. On some unseen command two ki blast shot from their hands and blew right underneath each of Bulma's ears. Had she moved, they would have taken her head off.

Bulma wasn't impressed though. She'd grown up around guys who used energy blasts in their everyday lives! Even Chichi had been known to deliver a strong stinger every now and again. It used to bother her that, compared to her friends, she was so weak and useless—doomed to always play the role of damsel in distress.

But being a genius had its perks.

"Well, aren't you two special?" she seethed and unholstered the homemade energy manipulator on her hip. She'd built it years ago, sick of being the weak link in the group. Mimicking their style, she aimed at the empty space between them and pulled the trigger. A high-powered beam shot from the tip and blew a hole into the mountain behind them, drilling all the way through and barreling out of the other side.

Nappa and Raditz craned their heads to look through the pierced mountain and were astounded to find that they could see the town beyond the rock.

"That's an impressive toy," Raditz said. "I can't believe the people on this planet would sell such a thing."

Bulma smirked. "They don't sell it. I built it."

"Oh I see." And he did see. Bulma could nearly see the wheels in Raditz's head beginning to churn. "You're a scientist too? Like dear old dad?"

"That's right. And trust me, this gun here is nothing compared to the rest of my arsenal." It was an empty threat, but these guys had no way of knowing that. Come to think of it, she only had enough energy in her gun for three or four more good shots, then she was screwed. _Think like Chichi_, she chanted to herself. Chichi had enough courage and confidence to make even the strongest of men quake in their boots, Krillin and Goku included… and that was saying something.

_A scientist_, Raditz thought. _A female scientist who's as strong willed as she is beautiful. A combination that not even Vegeta could resist_. "Nappa, get the old man. I've got a really bad idea."

##

**Author's Notes**—Chapter Three! I hope you all had a really good weekend. I know I did. I love football season! I just want to say a quick thanks to everyone who has reviewed. Your reviews keep me interested in writing this fic!


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER FOUR**

"Bulma?!" Dr. Briefs exclaimed. "Bulma, no! What are you doing here?"

_Angry_ didn't begin to cover how she felt when she watched the mammoth alien escort her father out of the hangar. _What did they do_, she wondered, _run him through a giant shredder_? His face was swollen on the right side and his left eye was so puffy that she couldn't even see the line where his lower lid and upper lid met. His normally fine hair had a thick layer of crust matted between the strands which morphed into a river of goo running down his face and dripped onto his lab coat. No—_angry_ was by far an insufficient way of describing how she felt.

"I came to bring you home," she said in an arctic tone, her eyes boring into the grip the giant alien had on her father. His fingers were the size of champagne flutes and looked like they were digging pretty deep into his fragile shoulder. "You want loosen your hold a little bit, big guy? You're going to crush his collar bone."

Nappa was not amused, and, needless to say, he did not loosen his hold on the doctor.

But Doctor Briefs hardly seemed to notice. So appalled was he at the thought of his only daughter standing before these aliens that the pain was nothing more than background noise to him, static. "You… You can't… I mean to say, you didn't come alone, did you?"

He cast a hopeful glance around the tree line then stared meaningfully back to his daughter.

Her lips pulled down into a grim line. His unasked question might as well have been shouted through a megaphone. _Did you bring Goku, Krillin, Yamcha… maybe even Tien or Master Roshi?_

"It's just me. I didn't think there would be enough time to…" she trailed off. Was it wise to mention that she had extraordinary friends? Friends who would no doubt show up any time now and mop the floor with their skulls? Probably not. She didn't want them to be expecting their appearance. She needed to keep quiet so that at the very least, Goku and the others would have the element of surprise on their side. "… to stop anywhere else."

Raditz narrowed his eyes at their exchange. Clearly those two were speaking in some sort of code, but he'd worry about that later. He had bigger fish to fry. He needed to put his brilliant, probably-but-hopefully-not fruitless plan into motion. But such a plan required delicacy—something that didn't exactly come natural to a Saiyan. "I propose a trade."

"A what?" Nappa and Doctor Briefs chorused.

"A trade. We'll let your father go, unharmed—every single strand of hair intact—if you agree to take his place here."

"No way!" Nappa and the doctor said in unison.

"Have you lost your mind?" Nappa growled, yanking Doctor Briefs back a good three feet. He wasn't keen on the idea of dealing with Vegeta when he woke up that night to find, not the genus they'd delivered that morning, but a skinny, loud mouthed woman instead.

Raditz pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. He never could figure out how Nappa managed to outrank him. Sure, the man had brawn but he was seriously lacking in the brain department. "Excuse us," he said, prying Nappa's fingers from the doctor. "My colleague and I need to discuss. Don't move, now. We're a lot faster than we look and it would be a shame to have to kill the pair of you."

Bulma stared, unsure of what her next move should be. The aliens were putting a decent amount of distance between them. Maybe they could run for it? Doubtful. From what her mom had said, these guys weren't lying. They'd probably swoop down on them like vultures if she tried to run and that made this whole mission a miserable failure.

"I can't believe you came out here," Dr. Briefs scolded and crossed his arms over his chest. There hadn't been many occasions in Bulma's life when her father had shown traces of being honestly disappointed in her—but this was one of them. "These guys are strong, monstrous! And their leader… well he really is a monster! Some sort of creature! With fangs and claws and a long snout! You need to get out of here."

"I'm not leaving without you," she said simply and moseyed over to the ship. It really was an incredible design—large and aerodynamic at the same time, like a pointed oval with sleep wings jutting out of either side. She pressed hard against one of the panels and watched in awe as the metal molded around her hand like putty. "I bet this strange material is what saved the ship. A crash like this? At their speed and altitude? The ship should have been incinerated on impact."

"Yes, I imagine so—but wait, Bulma! Don't change the subject. This is serious! These guys are—"

"Strong. I know. I heard you the first time. But they can't be any stronger than Goku, can they? And Yamcha's gone to get him already."

She glanced back at the aliens, trying to size them up compared to Goku. The big one… well… alright he was large. But, like they always say, the larger they are, the harder they fall. The other one… hmm.. now that she really looked at him, he had a lot of similarities to her longtime friend. They were about the same size, give or take a few inches, Their builds were nearly identical, they could have even had the same facial features. It was hard to tell though because Goku always looked so happy and this guy… didn't.

"Hmm… that's strange."

"What is?" Doctor Briefs asked, an edge of grouchiness still leaking into his voice.

"That one. He looks a lot like Goku, huh? They even have tails like Goku did when he was a kid." She traced her bottom lip with her fingers—a soothing habit of hers whenever she was giving something serious thought. "But Goku couldn't have anything to do with these guys. They're aliens and Goku's from Earth."

Doctor Briefs furrowed his brows and squinted his remaining good eye at Raditz. "Are you sure? That Goku's from Earth, I mean? He does seem to have a lot in common with these guys: inhuman strength, the tail, he even has the same kind of coarse, spikey hair."

"That's ridiculous. I've known him since he was a kid. He never mentioned anything about being from outer space."

"But has he ever mentioned anything about _not_ being from outer space? I mean, have you ever seen a birth certificate or anything?"

"Well, no," she conceded. "But it's not common practice to ask for proof of humanity whenever you meet someone either."

A moment hung between them, where they both considered the possibility of Goku ever resorting to the crude displays of strength and power that these aliens seemed to thrive on.

"No way," the said together.

"What are you doing?" Nappa hissed. "A trade? You know you don't have the authority to make that call. You have to run it by Vegeta first!"

"Well he's indisposed at the moment, isn't he?" Raditz whispered back. "Hear me out on this one. Just look at that woman."

"That's what this is about?" a vein throbbed on top of his clean shaven head and he bared his teeth, giving him the look of a mad man. "If you want her then take her. She's got a power level of seven for God's sake. It's not like she'll put up much of a fight. But we need that old man! We need to at least get the satellite up and working or else…"

He didn't have to finish his sentence. Raditz knew exactly what he would be thinking of: Naomi and their unborn child. And what Frieza was capable and probable of doing to them if they didn't get a transmission out soon.

"I don't want her for me. I was thinking we could… you know… see what Vegeta thought of her. Maybe she could be the one."

"The one?"

"You know… maybe she could end the curse."

Nappa turned the idea over in his head, then glanced back at the blue-haired woman. She was pretty, he'd give her that much, but he was still hesitant about making a trade. "Why can't we just keep them both? Two hostages?"

"Because, we need her to _want_ to be here. We need her to think that by being here she is doing something good. If we keep the old man here then that's where all of her focus will be—with the well-being of her father. We need him to be somewhere else, somewhere safe and alive and we need her to think that it's because of her that he's okay."

"I don't know," Nappa shook his head. Raditz idea wasn't a bad one, but it wasn't a great one either. "Vegeta's been offered hundreds of beautiful women—some that were much better looking—and he's turned them all away. What makes her so special?"

"I don't know," Raditz said truthfully. "She's unique for one thing. I don't think we've run across her coloring in all our years of travel. But it's more than that. There's something about her, in the way she stands up for her loved ones. You saw. She didn't even tremble when she confronted us. She's got guts, and I think that's something Vegeta will find very… interesting."

"Yeah, or highly annoying. She may not make it through the night if she mouths off to him like that. Then what would we do?"

"Then we'd call the whole idea a failure and bring the old man back. That's the beauty of it all. Even if everything she said is a lie and she's not a scientist, by keeping her father alive we can still bring him back for repairs if we need to. We've got a lock on his ki now. There's nowhere on the planet for him to hide."

Nappa heaved a giant sigh. There was something about this plan of his that was falling flat. Something potentially disastrous that he couldn't quite put his finger on. He glared for one long moment at the scientist and his daughter, both of which who had returned to admiring the ship, then cut his eyes back to Raditz. "Fine, we'll try it, but when Vegeta goes on a rampage I expect you to take full responsibility for this."

"Fine," he said and the pair of them approached the scientists once again.

Bulma clutched onto her father's arm as they descended upon them.

"Tell me, woman," Raditz began, stopping mere inches in front of her. His warm breath hit her cheeks with every word he spoke. Part of her ached to punch the arrogant alien square in the face, but she had a feeling—and a strong one at that—that such a move would be counter-productive. "Do you possess the knowledge and skills required to repair our ship?"

Her heart leapt. "R-repair the ship?" she stuttered out. They wanted her to fix their ship? It was too good to be true! Not only did that mean that these beings were trying to leave their planet, but it also meant that she got to play with alien technology! From the looks of it, these guys were light years ahead of what she and her team had been able to accomplish at Capsule Corp. To be handed the opportunity to poke around in their circuits was like a dream come true! "Yes. I can do that."

"Our offer still stands then. You in exchange for the old man's freedom."

"Absolutely not!" Doctor Briefs shouted at the same time that Bulma said, "Done."

"It's settled then," Raditz grinned, ignoring the doctor as he dove into a fit of protests. "I'll just give you a life home then."

He moved to grab Doctor Briefs, but Bulma grabbed her father first and pulled him into a bone shattering embrace. In a voice so low she worried whether or not her old man would hear her at all, she whispered, "I'll be okay. I love you."

Then Raditz wrenched him from her arms, and blasted off into the sky, carrying her terrified father with him.

##

"Goku? Goku!" Yamcha plowed through the door of the Son home and his heart immediately crashed through his stomach and puddled into his feet. "No one's here!" he shouted.

On any other day, a trip to Goku's house was damn near predictable. Chichi would be in the kitchen, rattling pots, or pouring over their son, Goku could be found training or eating—or on the rare occasion, both—and little Gohan would be napping or studying. It was typical of his luck to find the place bare when he really needed them to be home.

"Just perfect," he grumbled, sprinting from room to room, checking for any minute sign that they'd been home lately or that they would be back soon. He could have cried when he reached Gohan's room and found that his desk—which was normally towering with books—had been cleared off completely. "Ugth! What did they do? Go on a vacation or something?"

Panic was closing in on him like rogue waves. He could feel his blood begin to pulse through his veins… faster, faster. It rushed behind his ears, giving more credence to his panic. Bulma was out there alone. She probably already made it to the aliens and there he was, standing in the middle of an empty house like an idiot—at a loss for what to do because his one surefire plan happened to be out for the day.

_God, I should have gone with her_. Her moaned to himself. _Why does she have to be so fucking stubborn? Why couldn't she just listen to me and stay home? She could be hurt! Or worse…_

"Okay Yamcha," he chanted to himself. "Calm down. Focus."

He closed his eyes and did a quick scan of the property, thinking that perhaps Goku and his family went for a walk. That wasn't outside of their character. They were all in love with the mountains and the outdoors. Maybe they just decided to have a picnic or something.

But his search came up empty. As a matter of fact, the only ki signatures he could pick up on belonged to the aliens on the far end of the mountains. He let out another irritated grunt and broadened his search, aiming it towards Master Roshi's island. That was one of the few places that the Son's went. Maybe they wanted to visit the Turtle Hermit.

Nothing. But he wasn't picking up on Krillin or Master Roshi either and they were pretty much guaranteed to be there. It was possible that they were simply too far away to sense while maintaining their normal power levels.

"It's not much to go on, but it's all I got."

##

"Raditz," Vegeta called. The back of his throat stung, as if some imaginary fingers had been jammed into his mouth and they'd spent the entire day clawing at the soft flesh of his esophagus. His head throbbed and the muscles in his biceps and thighs were unmistakably torn.

He was used to waking to find himself a little beaten up, but it looked like the beast outdid himself this time. His entire body ached, as if he's been straining against his chains all day long, ripping and tearing his body the whole time.

_What did I do?_

Through the throbbing of his mind, he tried to clear the fog that shrouded over the day. As always, he caught glimpses of what all happened in the moments before he turned. He saw the scientist Nappa and Raditz had brought back, saw that he had to threaten the old man into compliance. He felt the cold shiver of approval run up his spine when the scientist stared at him with that look—the look of absolute horror, the look that showed his understanding of a sure death if he were to displease Vegeta.

But then his view shifted. A thin layer of red descended over him, covering everything in his sight, blurring in and out of focus. He saw his fingers stretch and grow, felt his canines pull down and the poisonous sting of his pupils losing their shape, tearing into slits. His mouth and nose elongated into a pronounced snout, his knees jutted out, forming a nearly ninety degree angle between his calves and thighs. He remembered running back onto the ship, through the corridors, into the west wing. Growls ripped out of him as he reached his shackles—the shackles that had been specially made from the metal that Frieza coveted so much. He saw that he had just gotten one wrist snapped in before the door opened and Raditz entered… he lunged.

"Raditz," he croaked out again, raising his voice painfully.

He was met with silence.

For one horrible moment he feared that the beast had seriously injured his fellow Saiyan, but the thought was quickly put to rest when he realized how unlikely that was. If the beast had gotten to Raditz, then he probably wouldn't have woken up with his shackles locked in place. He would have been roaming the wilderness most likely with bits of the native species stuck in between his teeth.

The door to the left beeped and Raditz came in. As always, he carried with him a fresh set of armor and a ring of keys. He balanced it all awkwardly in his right hand because his left arm was bandaged and cradled in a sling.

"Good evening, sire."

Vegeta nodded and massaged his now free wrist. The cuffs had rubbed his skin raw again. "I take it the power is still out," he gestured to Raditz's sling. Such an archaic form of medicine could only mean they were still running off backup generators, which meant the rejuvenation tanks were out of order.

"It's been restored in the command deck and the east hangar, but we thought it would be best to have the scientist focus on the satellites first."

"Very well. It's good to know the old man is competent at least."

"The old man," he repeated. "Sire, about that…"

"Not now," Vegeta said with a wave of his hand. Raditz marveled at how exactly the motion matched the way Bulma dismissed him earlier that day. "I need to go check on his progress. We need to get out a transmission before sunrise."

"Yes, but sire—"

Vegeta strode past him, pulling his armor into place and wondering about how efficient the old man would be when it came to long distance frequencies. From what little he'd seen of the planet, it didn't seem like the inhabitants had worked out even the basics of space and time, much less the required technologies for maintaining communications.

"Will you stop your blathering, Raditz? I've got a headache and my body is shot. As soon as we're able to transmit, the old man needs to get power to the medical deck."

"Of course, it's just that—"

Dear God, Raditz had never fully appreciated the quick, business-like pace of Vegeta's walk, even when the prince was injured. He had hoped for a chance to explain before he found the woman, but the speed of his step was unnerving. It was almost as if the prince knew something was afoot.

The faster Vegeta walked, the more Raditz stuttered over his words. The more Raditz stuttered over his words, the faster Vegeta walked.

"Raditz! What the hell are carrying on about? Spit it out!"

Too late. Vegeta stopped in front of the server room and punched the button on the side. The door slid open and there sat Bulma, elbow deep in metal and circuits. She pushed a strand of hair out of her face and set to work with a wrench, bolting down something that looked rather complicated.

It was a rare thing to see Vegeta come up short, but that's exactly what he did. Raditz could practically see the wheels in his head cranking, trying to convince himself that it had been an old man that he'd seen yesterday, that he wasn't losing his mind.

At a loss for anything to say, Vegeta bellowed, "What the fuck?!" making both Bulma and Raditz jump.

"Right. As I was trying to say before…" Raditz began and commenced to stuttering and tripping over his words once again.

Bulma stood, eyeing the newcomer wearily. Judging from the way Raditz hurried to explain himself, she gathered that this alien—Saiyans as they called themselves—was the leader. _Funny, he doesn't look like a monster to me_, she thought, recalling her father's words. He did look a little unusual. His skin was just a shade or two darker than what she would consider normal and his hair seemed to defy gravity. _Maybe their planet is closer to their sun._

"We made a trade," she said simply, getting both tired and annoyed of hearing Raditz quail. "I took my father's place here and your boys promised he could leave, unharmed."

"You what!?" Vegeta rounded on Raditz. "You decided to bring in a little girl over a genuine scientist?! What the hell's the matter with you?"

"Hey," Bulma protested.

But Vegeta didn't notice and he continued to lay into his henchman. "What the fuck were you thinking? Clearly the old man was a better bet for getting our shit up and working! What do you think she's going to be able to do? Decorate?"

"Excuse me!" Bulma said indignantly.

"You are going to go back. RIGHT NOW! Get that old man back here! And get that woman out of my sight!"

CLANK!

Vegeta stopped his rant immediately and Raditz stood rooted to the spot, staring dumbfounded at Bulma, whose arm was still outstretched from hurling the wrench. It had nailed Vegeta square in the back of the head then ricocheted off of him and spun on the floor.

"Did you just… throw that wrench at me… woman?" He spoke slow, deliberate, each word seemingly forcing its way through clenched teeth. The veins in his head and eyeballs throbbed, threatening to pop.

"Yes!" Bulma said, raising herself to her full height, which was still a couple of inches shorter than Vegeta. "We made a deal!" She said, pointing an accusing finger towards Raditz. "You said my father could go free if I stayed to fix your ship. I've been working all day! Listening to you and fucking Bigfoot out there bragging about how honorable Saiyans are, and now you're going back on your word?! I don't think so!"

The door beeped again and Nappa entered, his eyes locked in wide circles, staring at Bulma as she continued her rant.

"And in case it's escaped your notice," she said, turning on Vegeta and jabbing him hard in the chest, "I've been making progress! Some sections of your ship have power and I've almost got your satellites up! Which you would have known if you didn't spend the whole day snoozing or doing God knows what else!"

She blinked when Vegeta moved to grab her hands. He was so fast! Her mom hadn't been exaggerating. She hardly saw the blur of his arms before her hands were trapped in one of his and the fingers of his other hand wrapped almost completely around her throat.

"Mind. Your. Tongue. Woman," he seethed. "Throw a wrench at me? I should break your arms right now."

"I wouldn't if I were you," Bulma choked, glaring glacially at the prince. "I'm the only person on this planet who can get you up and running."

"Oh really? Funny, I recall having an old man in here yesterday. I believe you call him Dad."

Bulma gave a weak laugh and thought of a lie off the top of her head. "His area of expertise is Earth Sciences. He studies plants and animals. He can't help you with this. You. Need. Me."

They stared each other down for a solid minute, each waiting for the other to blink.

He adjusted his fingers on her neck, giving serious thought to crushing it then and there and being rid of her once and for all. What a stupid woman! He thought. How dare she show such insolence! But standing there, holding her face within inches of his own, he couldn't help but notice some of her other attributes: clear skin, big fiery eyes, pouty lips… and such a temper.

"Fine," he smirked and dropped her onto the floor. "But you better pray you're as smart as you say, woman."

He turned on his heel and marched out of the server room, leaving Bulma glaring after him and Raditz and Nappa staring at her with something close to respect.

Then Nappa gave himself a shake and asked, "Did you call be Bigfoot?"

##

**Author's Notes**—Hope you all enjoyed Chapter Four. Again, thanks for all the Reviews and faves. It's nice to hear what everyone thinks and they keep me going on this fic. Judging from some of your comments, I'm gathering that people thought this was going to be an exact replica of Beauty and the Beast but with DBZ characters. Let me clear that up now… No. This story just has that Beauty in the Beast type parody. Only a few things here and there will be like the Fairytale version… you know, the rose, the west wing, blah blah blah. But that is only a small part of it. The actual Fic gets far far far away from the fairytale. -G


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